Anderson Speaks as 'Thunderbirds are Go' on Blu-Ray
Just as a new animated Star Wars series takes off basing aspects of its 3D character design on the look of "Supermarianation" puppets, the pioneering series in all things puppet-based action, Thunderbirds, is arriving on Blu-Ray.
To commemorate the event, the BBC strung up a Q&A with series creator Gerry Anderson. To read it in full click here. In the interview, the producer behind the concepts and much of the technology behind genre classics like Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Space: 1999 and Terrahawks, Anderson moves his bottom jaw up and down on topics ranging from the disastrous live-action Thunderbirds movie (which he had nothing to do with) to the salty-mouthed Trey Parker and Matt Stone tribute, Team America.
Most importantly for fans of Thunderbirds, Anderson all but confirmed a new CGI-based remake is en route: "I have be careful about this, but I think there will be a new series and I will be involved."
Cartoon Channel Rolls Out Lone Clone Wars Comic
Fresh off a round of good reviews from critics and a healthy start in the ratings, Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars series rolls into its second week with an online Star Wars comic to preview each week's episode. Click here to have a look at it in more detail.
Created by an online team including Pablo Hidalgo, Thomas Hodges and Grant Gould, the comic's style features a unique blend of the new series' "carved puppet" look and the original angular take of Genndy Tartakovsky's 2003, 2D animated show.
A new mini-comic will hit the site every week before Friday's new episode.
By George! It's Jonny Lee Good in Eli Stone
The Times Online met up with SCI FI channel's Eli Stone - a lawyer assisted by an angelic George Michael...
George Michael is a celestial herald who sends messages of spiritual salvation via his songs. No, it's not what the former Wham! star said to the police officer who arrested him in a public toilet earlier this month for possessing Class A and C drugs. It's the premise of Eli Stone, a new American TV series starring the British actor Jonny Lee Miller as a San Francisco lawyer who is visited by said herald, played, in a splendid casting coup, by the wayward Michael himself.
Eli Stone is the archetype of strutting corporate hubris, a shark in Armani with a hot fiancée (Natasha Henstridge of Species), a vertiginous apartment and a handsomely remunerated position at Wethersby, Posner and Klein, a law firm that you won't have heard of "unless you own a huge company that's screwed over a little guy".
Then he finds George Michael performing Faith on his coffee table. Nobody else can see or hear him, of course, but the experience anoints Eli as a modern-day prophet and triggers a journey of philanthropic self-discovery that includes nods to Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, a defection to the side of the "little guy" in one of his firm's cases, and a pilgrimage to the Himalayas to scatter the ashes of his disgraced father.
To read the rest of the article simply click here.
Star Trek Barbershop Quartet
The Hi-Fidelity Quartet performed this Barbershop song about Star Trek while acting out the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty. Run time: 4.5 minutes. Definitely worth a watch, click here to go toThe Star Trek Barbershop Quartet.
The Glowing, Shattered Face of Mercury
NASA's Messenger spacecraft zoomed past Mercury on Monday, sending back a set of luminous images that look like they were taken by celebrated nature photographer Ansel Adams in space. Here you can see the bright pocks left by recent meteors crashing to the planet's surface, opening up complicated webs of cracks. Want to see those cracks close up?
Wow!
For more images click here.
Japan Is Creating Your Future Cyborg Overlords Right Now
Extract taken from i09.com...
Wow, I don't know what's crazier -- that there's a Japanese company called Cyberdyne, or the fact that it's creating cyborg limbs that look sort of like 1960s Cybermen. Or maybe the fact that its cyborg limbs are called "Human Assistive Limb," or HAL for short. What's next? The Brilliant Organ Replacement Group? It's like they're announcing that we're doomed. It's bad enough that Skynet already exists.
Cyberdyne showed off these HAL robot suits today at the company's new R&D center in Tsukuba City. Mass production of our new overlords the suits will begin Oct. 10. The suits actually read brain signals and figure out how you're going to move, then they assist with motion, for people with gait disorders or seniors. The suits will go for U.S. $2,200 a month, or $1,500 for just one leg.
